Newly installed rail crossing in Lafayette should end a week's worth of traffic woes in east Boulder County

LAFAYETTE – The long, nettlesome nightmare that was travel in eastern Boulder County this week came to an end early this morning, when Baseline Road re-opened after a four-day closure so that an aging railroad crossing west of 95th Street could be replaced.

The wooden crossing, which was severely rutted and had begun to splinter off chunks of timber, caused brain-rattling moments for drivers and cyclists trying to negotiate their way across the widening gaps and deepening dips. Lafayette Public Works Director Doug Short said he has gotten complaints about the condition of the tracks for a dozen years.

Burlington Northern replaced it with a concrete crossing.

“I set it for 45 mph and I hit it,” Short exulted this morning.

Dave Stolz, of Lafayette, rides his bicycle over the new railroad crossing near 95th Street on Baseline Road in Lafayette on Friday, Oct. 19. For a video on the new railroad crossing go to www.dailycamera.com
Jeremy Papasso/ Camera (JEREMY PAPASSO)

“It's smooth as a baby's bottom.”

What wasn't so smooth was the journey for commuters traveling between the City of Boulder and Lafayette, Louisville and Erie since Monday morning, when Baseline Road closed to through traffic between 75th and 95th streets.

With one of the county's major east-west thoroughfares out of commission, commuters were left with the unenviable task of finding a clear route to work and home. Compounding the challenge was the fact that parallel corridors in the county – including Arapahoe and South Boulder roads -- were undergoing construction themselves and couldn't provide much in the way of traffic relief.

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Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said things were bad all week but became particularly troublesome on Wednesday when an accident on Arapahoe Road caused long back-ups on 95th Street.

"There were a lot of frustrated people," he said. “I don't want to make light of the fact that it caused a lot of interruptions for a lot of people.”

Short said at one point motorists on Arapahoe Road were being directed by sheriff's deputies to Baseline Road, only to be forced to turn around at the tracks and re-trace their steps.

Gerstle said Boulder County wants to “redouble” its efforts to better coordinate multiple road construction projects in the future, but he said the closure of Baseline Road this week was largely out of the county's hands. Burlington Northern decided when it needed to repair its crossing in Lafayette, Gerstle said, and everyone else had to go along with it if they didn't want to see the project put off for months or years.

“We really appreciate everyone's patience and we understand it was a real imposition and problem for people,” he said. “But I think the improvement will be immediately noticeable.”

It was to Larry McLaughlin, who declared “finally” after speeding over the crossing this morning.

The Eldora resident was on a 30-mile bike ride from Boulder to Lafayette and Longmont.

“It was very dangerous,” he said. “I've wrecked my bike on these crossings.”

Gerry Stephenson, of Lafayette, said he crosses the tracks regularly on his Schwinn Fastback Pro. He called his first crossing of the new tracks this morning “wonderful.”

“Just about every route I use goes through here,” he said. “It was always terrible – you had to be really careful and go really slowly. Now it's something on my ride I can think a little less about.”

Cyclists weren't the only ones enjoying the smooth crossing today. Nancy Moore, an 8-year resident at Indian Peaks, said she drives across Burlington Northern's tracks on Baseline Road several times a day.

“Going west, it was a great, big hole,” she said. “And if I wasn't thinking about it, I'd hit the hole and everything would rattle. It was like hitting a wall. Now it's smooth as silk. I'm not going to miss that.”

Short said people should expect the crossing to get even smoother as it settles under the weight of passing trains.

“They told us to leave a quarter inch lip against the concrete and as the trains come along, the crossing will settle in and become flush with the asphalt,” he said.

Short said the city and Burlington Northern managed to get the job done in four days, even though a backhoe overheated, an asphalt cutter failed and a machine designed to hoist tracks went on the fritz. The city had blocked out 10 days to close Baseline to account for unforeseen problems and weather delays.

Lafayette and the railroad split down the middle the $70,000 cost of replacing the crossing.

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